A stone, a bullet, a burial: A Palestinian boy's death in the West Bank signals wider unrest
TULKAREM, West Bank — The funeral started loudly, with dozens of automatic rifles firing into the air and men chanting as they carried the body of 15-year-old Ali Khazneh, wrapped in Palestinian flags, from the mosque to the cemetery crowded with mourners.
To his friends, Ali was a jokester, always a jovial presence in the street.
To his family, he was a boy who died with a rock in his hand as Israel's armored vehicles passed through his village.
For the Palestinian politicians and fighters assembled that day for the funeral, Ali was a symbol of Palestinian national unity and an example for others to follow as violence surges in the West Bank.
"Oh martyr to you we swear, from your goals we will not stray," the men carrying his body chanted.
The funeral ended quietly. The crowds faded away, and with them the shooting, the shouting, the speeches. A handful of Ali's friends remained with his older brother, 20-year-old Mohammad Khazneh, who sat by the grave, his eyes red as he laid his hand on the cornerstone and stayed frozen in place. The rest were still too, stuck in a wordless eulogy.
His death was another in the worst surge of violence to have swept, when the killed more than 1,400 Israelis, , where it is .
